December 31, 2014 - New Creation

December 31, 2014 - New Creation
Stephanie Malcolm

2 Corinthians 5:16-6:2 

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though
we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way.

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see,
everything has become new!
-2 Corinthians 5:16-17

Tonight, we are looking back at what has happened the past year and looking forward to what is going to happen the next year. This past year has been full of division and fighting. When you look around the world, we divide ourselves into various groups. We divide into political factions, races, countries, gender, and economic classes. Fighting and unrest are a constant between these various groups.

If we’re not careful, this division can infiltrate our churches, tempting us to draw lines where we allow these groups to influence and run how the church functions. We exclude and include people into the Church body based on whether or not people line up with our particular leanings.

The passage today calls us to repentance. Christ has made a new creation and we are ambassadors of it. The only division that exists in this new world are those who have been made aware of the new creation and those who have yet to see. We are called to be ambassadors of this message and to remember the grace that God showed us in our salvation. Those who I once fought with are now my brothers and sisters in Christ. We are called to work together to bring the reconciliation of Christ to the world.

As we celebrate the coming of this new year, will you be another source of division or an ambassador of reconciliation to the world? 

 As we work together with him,
we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says,
‘At an acceptable time I have listened to you,
and on a day of salvation I have helped you.’
See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!
- 2 Corinthians 6:1-2